03-24-2022, 04:59 PM
(03-18-2022, 11:12 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:(03-18-2022, 10:19 AM)ac3r Wrote: I doubt that would happen. They'd need new locomotives to be able to take advantage of that, wouldn't they? They'd also need to switch locomotives once they reach the point where lines aren't electrified. Considering a lot of the trains going south are going into Windsor/Detroit or Sarnia/Port Huron, that would be a huge logistical issue with scheduling. These are mainlines that see incredibly high volumes of freight crossing in and out of the border, so they want everything to operate as smoothly as possible.
Electric rail is nice, but diesel works fine for freight trains IMO. I'm not a train expert although I love trains, but I think one benefit of diesel is that it lets us run much longer trains. European freight trains don't run as long as ours, whereas we have freight trains that are often longer than 3 kilometers (which is nuts! and I think the limit is something like 4.2 kilometers) and due to our chaotic geography, they need as much power as possible, which is why those long intercontinental intermodals run with like...4 locomotives on the front and various DPUs in the middle and back. It's just much easier to stick with diesel.
Diesel "works fine" for passenger rail as well. But there are big benefits to electrification...climate change is a big advantage, but also local air pollution. These are the same for freight and passenger trains.
AFAIK there is no reason that an electric locomotive freight train couldn't be just as long as a diesel freight train, electric locomotives are much more powerful than diesel locos. Europe runs shorter trains for many reasons, but not really related to using electric locos (and many (even most maybe) of their rail freight is pulled by diesel locos).
Isn't most Swiss freight rail electrified?